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Released: April 05, 2018

Panera’s data breach puts attention on risks of loyalty programs

The records belonged to customers who had registered for the MyPanera program to order food online. The details exposed included their names, email and physical addresses, birthdays, and the last four digits of user credit card numbers, according to the security news site KrebsonSecurity.

Loyalty programs, which promise perks and convenience in exchange for personal data, are another realm. And Panera’s breach makes one wonder: Is a free sandwich worth the hassle of having personal identifying information floating into the wrong hands?